Mr. Jonathan

white flags bounding dead away from you because you screwed up another stalk

He looks amazing man! Great buck

This just isn't funny anymore. I look at your photos and get depressed... I'll never have a day like that! You are unreal. So is that 8 pnt brown.

Now that was spot on! 20% of Americans get killed before they are born? It's called being "progressive". Oh, kinda like wildlife management- we're just culling the herds so as not to exceed the carrying capacity of the land?

Now that was spot on! 20% of Americans get killed before they are born?

To add to the long list of things I don't do well, predator calling probably goes near the top. All day, lots of stands, and the only dog we saw was standing on the side of the road long enough for me to hop out and shoot.

"One Shot Kill" was what my dad would always say to me on deer hunts growing up. Fantastic job and congrats!

And here is a sketch of some coues antlers with oak leaf-traditional filigree

Here's a sketch of a chukar. with a little revision and some photo references it might make a decent tattoo.

What about setting up a "clinic" on shed hunting techniques for those of us who lack such skills as you possess? We could get together and have a game cook-off, maybe some live music and malted beverages... Just throwing it out there

What a stud.

awesome! congrats on a great hunt

Hey nice bow!

Man, MT is fantastic! I killed my first bull and northern whitetail around Missoula this year. The country is unreal and the hunting seasons are so generous. Enjoy it!

I don't think you're a softy at all. It was a ton of bloodshed, and 0% respect for the animal. Not hunting, as most would consider it. When I was younger I used to love going out and shooting jackrabbits just to shoot them. Now I don't shoot them at all (except occasionally with archery tackle). I just don't have any need to kill for the sake of killing alone. Even last weekend I had a softy moment with a coyote. I was deer hunting, saw him and nocked an arrow, and then just let him walk. Never thought I'd ever pass up that kind of opportunity but at that moment I just didn't want to kill him. I even felt a sort of 'hippy' connection with him. It was weird. But watching moving targets get walloped out of a helicopter was really pretty cool.

I have never seen that clip before... You just made my whole night! That was a ton of fun to watch. It reminded me of Full Metal Jacket- "...it's easy, you just don't lead them as much!" I would love to do that someday.

THis video was classic! I love the spanish in it too! Mira, no mas cartouches! Chingon! Then the good old boy breaks out the flask... That was a lot of fun, there was even a little bro-mance as they were walking up the deer. THanks for posting!

Is also seems that most of the complaints about wild hogs by hunters are just fluff. It seems that if people were really upset about wild hogs, whenever they came across them they would try and reduce them as quickly and effectively as possible. This would include notifying other people about their whereabouts and trying to organize an effort to remove them. However, even on this website no one will give the locations of feral hogs that they have come across because they want to hunt them exclusively. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, but I think its a double standard to complain about hogs and then not take a more purposed stance on reducing the numbers. If people were really committed to removing them, they would have posts inviting others to come help hunt them once they were located. Honestly I would keep a herd a secret if I found one because I'd want to hunt them myself with my friends. So it would be hypocritical of me to complain about them but try to keep their location a secret so that I could hunt them exclusively. Or charge 300 bucks to shoot one on my ranch.

hurts my feelings too I think, though, that the term comes out in certain groups of hunters because when in comparison to the coues whitetail deer, they are considered to be bigger, slower, and less intelligent- like a carp. But I could be wrong about that...

Awesome buck! And this can happen on good shots too. My friend double lunged a mulie but was unsure of the shot. He backed out and returned in the morning to find the carcass look just like yours, only about 70 yards from where he hit it. It is incredible how fast those coyotes can strip a carcass.

I don't know what the rut is, but man the deer with antlers keep chasing the deer without antlers like there's no tomorrow. Its crazy.

Between the cat claw, loose gravel, and the fact that these deer are super wary, I can't get within striking distance. How can a guy close the gap on these critters without using a blind/stand? I haven't been a rifle hunter in a long time, but this is making me rethink archery! This guy ran all over the mountain, but intercepting him was impossible because he'd switch directions, and sneaking quietly was impossible because of the terrain, even after today's rainfall! What's the deal?

Well, after Christian (azcouesandelk) showed me the ropes of glassing for coues deer last year, I became really interested in hunting javelina as well. I picked up a leftover archery tag and invited Christian to come along, hoping I could glean from some of his expertise on hunting pigs. We glassed up some coues deer right off the bat, and they were in low cholla-country, which i thought was pretty neat, but no piggies anywhere. We went to the gas station around 10 am and I asked the lady working there where I could find some javelina. She laughed and told me to look in her back yard. After gassing up and getting some tasty breakfast sandwiches that only small town gas stations can produce we tried another canyon a few miles to the north. Apparently the combination of mid-morning sun and a hot breakfast was enough to put Christian to sleep, however, I learned later that just like Chuck Norris, Christian doesn't sleep he only "waits." Well, while he was 'waiting', I was glassing glassing glassing... Then finally I pulled the truck up to another overlook, and as I was setting up the binoculars I happened to look down the canyon with my bare eyes and see a nice batch of javelina doing lots of javelina stuff about 200 yards below me. I said "Oh wow there's a lot of pigs!" I was met with a little unbelief, until Christian looked to confirm that this old 'carp' hunter wasn't just seeing things... Christian stayed on top of the hill to guide me while I worked my way down and around towards the group of javelina. There were 17 animals in the group. What do you call a collective group of javelina? A herd? A pack? I don't know. Anyways, they were sleeping in "piles" which I had never seen before, and they actually looked kind of cute in a weird way. I got in to 35 yards when one of the pigs decided to get up and walk around, then it sort of sprinted towards me until it got to 18 yards away. I was already at full draw, and since I shoot a single pin slider sight I had already set the yardage to 35 yards. Initially I thought I might take a head on shot, but when he faced me I couldn't believe how thin their bodies are, so I remained at full draw. I followed the pig until he quartered enough for me to slip an arrow through him. All the pigs erupted, running everywhere and making crazy noises, and then Christian says "Ok, he's down. He's not going anywhere!" Then the hootin and hollerin started. The javelina only ran about 20 yards before expiring. Christian hiked down and we had a regular photo shoot with my first Arizona 'big' game animal, then we got him in the pack and called it a day to go look for deer. He was a non-typical with three tusks on the bottom there. Well if you can imagine such a thing, here's a hoyt guy hanging out with a bowtech guy. But if I remember correctly, only the bowtech drew blood that day, even though both bows put an arrow in the sky. I'll let azcouesandelk tell that story though... Thanks for the help man! Oh, and if Bill Quimby reads this, I know they are not pigs, or rodents for that matter, and I do know they are actually 'peccarys.' I'm just trying to demonstrate some cultural sensitivity to the subject when I use the more vulgar vernacular. Its hard enough being a muley hunter

There's whitetail in Nevada? I must have missed them somehow!

This was an absolutely fantastic post. Thank you for writing and sharing!